Who's Who in the parade (photo courtesy Doug Baz)

The Children’s Starlight Parade.
Who will be in the spectacular parade?

Sinterklaas on his white horse.

The Grumpuses, who are his wild sidekicks who carry out Sinterklaas’ judgment on the children — either switches for the bad or candies for the good. But, our special Grumpuses are people you know in the community, though cleverly disguised. They are candymen, there for joyous revels and to delight the children. The Grumpus is also the Bel Snickle in German culture.

Grandmother Earth on whom we all live. She's the mother of us all, the Guiding Spirit of the Parade reminding us to take care of her.

The 4 Seasons—the moods of Grandmother Earth. We especially honor Winter this time of year.

The Abbots Bromley Horn Dance The most ancient Dance ever recorded, it is still danced today in the Town of Bromley in England. The deer horns in Bromley date back to the 11th 
century, and are believed to have been brought to England by the Norse. (Since there are no reindeer in England!) Coincidentally enough, the horns are stored in –where else?–St. Nicholas’ Church in Bromley and brought out once a year for a performance.

There are 12 characters. Six carry the horns and are accompanied by musician playing an accordion; Maid Marian (a man in a dress), the Hobby-Horse, the Fool (or Jester), a youngster with a bow and arrow, and another youngster with a triangle. Traditionally, the dancers are all male, although in recent years girls have been seen carrying the triangle and bow and arrow. The pattern of the dance mimics the way in which a deer walks though the woods–in a figure eight pattern—to the accompaniment of a haunting slip jig.

The version you will see performed by the Pokingbrook Morris Dancers is sometimes called the Royal Albert Horn Dance after the haunting tune that was commissioned at the Royal Albert Hall. Anthropologists have argued that this dance, which mimics abowman killing a reindeer, was performed as a ritual to ensure a successful hunt. It is interesting to note that the Bushmen of the Kalahari also have ritual dances which mime a warrior killing its prey, while the cave paintings of Lascaux, France, which date to Paleolithic times 20,000 years ago, depict men wearing antler head-dresses being stalked by bowmen.So the Abbots Bromley Horn Dance may be a lot more ancient than presumed.

The Ballerina and Dog and the Carousel

The Blue Dog—some things have no explanation!

St. George and the Dragon: A Comic play about Good and Evil.

The Seven Sisters: Stars from the cosmos that look down on us from afar and allow us to look up and dream.

Wild Women—If you have Wild Men (The Grumpuses) you have to have Wild Women, and we should have a fantastic gaggle!

Music of all traditions: Klezmer, Bagpipe, Dixieland, Irish.
Didgerido, Balkan, Ukranian.

Creatures of the Forest: They all come out for us on this night.

Creatures from the Farm: The sheep, the cows, the rams, the horse. They join their wild brothers.

The Peace Dove—Our wish for the world. The night ends with a wish for Peace in the world so that we will all live in community with each other, enjoying and celebrating our differences, hoping for Joy for All in this, our precious World.